Functioning in Harmony

The way the nervous system, and in a larger sense the entire mind and body, prefers to function is in communication and harmony with the community around it.
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Whether it’s family, old friends, new friends, or meeting new friends at the park, people of all ages thrive when they can interact with each other.
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Everyday at Pure Light, we educate our patients and objectively measure the two main branches of the autonomic nervous system: the parasympathetic (rest & digest) and the sympathetic (fight or flight) branches.
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The sympathetic nervous system handles life’s stressors while the parasympathetic system handles life’s regenerative functions.
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A researcher named Stephen Porges has hypothesized a third branch, called the vagal branch. This branch is dedicated to our social interactions, and is therefore often called the “social vagus.”
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The key finding from social vagus research shows that the body prefers to use the newest evolutionary system—the social vagus— to process and adapt to most of life’s stressors.
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The people around you allow your pattern of brain waves to enter into a calmer, larger field that offers protection.
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If you don’t have social outlets for stress, such as a community of friends or family that you can regularly and honestly communicate with and get your needs from, then the body retains a fight-flight physiology.
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This isn’t a sustainable state, and if you do not transition back out of it then your body and mind begin to shut down.
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The manner and degree to which we choose to interact with other people, then, dictates a very important part of our health.
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Can you imagine the impact a group of people with a peaceful and blissful brain-wave pattern has on other people they meet in the community?
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The interaction between one another’s social neurology can be a powerful agent for change.
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